Amazon

Amazon today announced that it will introduce its Siri competitor, Amazon Alexa, directly into the company's iOS app over the course of the next week (via VentureBeat). With the addition of Alexa, users will now be able to ask questions about the status of their orders, use their voice to initiate searches, play music, and start audio books from Audible. Alexa's powers go beyond Amazon's...

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Cisco have filed an amicus brief supporting Google in an ongoing case dealing with security and privacy, topics that Apple has been known to advocate in the past (via Business Insider). Most recently, Google's case has led to a court in Pennsylvania requesting the company to comply to an FBI warrant asking for emails residing on foreign servers. Although it's...

Amazon is building upon the Alexa voice-recognition technology found in its Echo range of speakers so that the virtual assistant can distinguish between individual users based on the sound of their voices. According to anonymous sources who spoke to TIME, Amazon's feature would work by matching the person speaking to a pre-recorded voice sample, or "voice print", to verify the speaker's...

Amazon's latest Fire TV stick, with Alexa built in, is coming to the U.K., after launching in the U.S. back in October. The streaming TV dongle will make its debut in the country on April 6 and have a price tag of £40, with Amazon already taking pre-orders. The device comes with a quad-core processor that Amazon says makes it 30 percent faster than its predecessor. The dongle also...

Developers at U.S. digital consultancy Rain have created a little-known app called Reverb that allows users to access Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant from their Mac desktop or iOS device. Launching the free Mac app prompts users to sign in to their Amazon account, after which a window opens showing the familiar blue Alexa ring on the desktop. Click and hold on the ring with the mouse cursor, ...

Both Amazon and Google are working on turning their popular AI-based speaker products into replacements for a home telephone, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Amazon Echo and/or the Google Home could be used to make and receive phone calls, with the two companies planning to add the updated functionality as soon as this year. Smart home products like the Amazon Echo have become a staple in ...

Amazon's push into the services space continued today with the launch of Chime, a new online VoIP call and video messaging platform aimed at business users. Apart from video conferencing and chat messaging, Amazon Chime allows users to host or join virtual meetings with a single click, and share content and screens across multiple platforms, including Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices. ...

Amazon has announced it is extending third-party support for its Alexa Voice Service (AVS) internationally, with rollout beginning today across the U.K. and Germany (via TechCrunch). First launched in the U.S. in 2015, AVS is the voice-interaction software that powers the company's Echo family of smart speakers as well as a range of supporting third-party smart home connected devices, such...

Apple and Amazon have agreed to cease all exclusivity obligations previously put in place between the two companies regarding the supply and distribution of audiobooks through iTunes and Audible (via Reuters). The partnership between the two companies previously incited a complaint from the German Publishers and Booksellers Association in 2015 centering around the potential for a monopoly in the...

We've seen it in third-party speakers and cars already at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but Amazon's Alexa is also about to become a smartphone personal assistant. Chinese mobile company Huawei used CES 2017 to announce it will be the first handset maker in the U.S. to pre-load the voice-activated AI into a phone. The HUAWEI MATE 9 will be the first smartphone to ...

Amazon today announced that its Prime Video streaming service has expanded to over 200 countries including India, the company's largest available market outside the U.S. Prime Video is automatically available at no additional cost to Amazon Prime members in Belgium, Canada, France, Italy and Spain, and to customers in new Prime Video territories at an introductory price of $2.99 (or 2.99...

Amazon today introduced a new app called "Amazon App: Browse, Search, and Shop," which is designed to let users look for and purchase items from Amazon.com. Anyone can use Amazon's new app to browse through and search for products using dictation, but to make a purchase, an Amazon Prime membership is required. Amazon Prime costs $99 per year and offers benefits like Amazon Video and free...

Nearly two months after filing a lawsuit against a firm selling counterfeit Apple power adapters and Lightning cables on Amazon, Apple has updated its website to advise customers to beware of counterfeit parts. Apple warns some counterfeit and third-party power adapters and batteries could pose safety risks, and recommends customers visit an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for ...

As part of its Black Friday Deals Week, Amazon lowered the price of its Echo family of smart speakers, before returning them to their regular prices. Now Amazon has discounted the devices again for a limited time in the U.S. as part of a "Holiday Deals" promotion. The full-size Echo speaker is $40 cheaper at $139.99, while the smaller Echo dot is available for $39.99 instead of its regular...

Amazon has expanded its Family Plan for Amazon Music Unlimited to the U.K., following initial rollout across the U.S. last month. The plan costs £15 a month, or £149 a year, which works out at a lower price of £12 per month. The subscription supports up to six family members (at least 13 years of age) for simultaneous listening and personal recommendations. On the plan, a single family ...

Apple customers may be familiar with the option of walking into an Apple retail store, purchasing a product with the Apple Store app, and walking out without checking out or even speaking to a single employee, and now Amazon seeks to one-up that experience with a new concept called Amazon Go. Amazon Go provides a checkout-free shopping experience that, to the naked eye, looks exactly like...

Amazon's next iteration of the Echo speaker will be a "premium" model that includes a touchscreen measuring around seven inches, marking "a major departure" from the tall, cylindrical design of the Echo currently on sale. The company is said to be upgrading Echo for two reasons: to capitalize on the device's success, and as early preparation to "fend off competition" from Google Home and Apple's...

Amazon has acknowledged a worsening counterfeit problem on its site and says it has made fighting the fake products a "major goal" for next year (via The Verge). Last month Apple filed a lawsuit against Mobile Star LLC which it accused of infringing upon its trademarks and copyrights by selling counterfeit power adapters and cables on Amazon. Apple claimed the fake products posed a risk to...

Amazon today began offering devices in its Echo smart speaker range at discounted prices for the first time in the products' short history, as part of its Black Friday Deals Week. For those unfamiliar with the devices, the connected speakers' array of microphones lets users query voice-based assistant Alexa, who can be asked to do things like play music, read the news, use apps, check the...

Amazon has slashed $100 off the official price of Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar, offering the machine at $1,399 instead of $1,499, presumably for a limited time. Spotted by AppAdvice, the discount is for the stock 13-inch model, which comes with a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB storage. Meanwhile, for anyone still debating whether a Touch Bar ...